


At the end

by artisticNutcase



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Corpses, End of the World, Masks, Nosebleed, Very Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 02:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artisticNutcase/pseuds/artisticNutcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zacharie spends his final minutes meeting Pablo and Sugar after seeing off the Batter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the end

“Bis Vincit, Qui Se Vincit In Victoria.“

Those were his parting words as he waved to the alleged savior. He watched the tall man approach the doorway. The darkness lying behind it swallowed the pure man quickly.

Zacharie turned his gaze to the floor. The game was going to be ending soon. His fate was now in the hand of the puppeteer, just like the fate of the entire world. He sighed behind his mask and shoved it up enough to breathe in some fresh air. His job here was done, he was now enabled to spend his last few minutes with whatever he wanted to, so he figured that he might as well leave a place as depressing as The Room and retreat to Zone 0. He used the floating red cube to return to the golden Zone. It was a relaxing environment. 

The merchant stared at one of the doors. He could go see Sugar one last time, tend to her wounds, maybe say a few words although she would, of course, not know about it. Zacharie had known that she was going to die eventually. The Player would know of her existence one way or another. But the small man was sure that she did an excellent job defending herself. Despite knowing of her eventual demise, receiving her last message from the Batter scratched at his heart with sharp claws. She was his dearest friend.

Just as he was about to set foot into the room with the first number combination written on the wall he heard a deep cat noise. This caused him to turn around.  
The white cat known as The Judge was standing there, looking up.

“What is your business here, Zacharie? Shouldn't you be selling Luck Tickets and the likes?”

“Pablo. Where have you been?”

“I have been mourning the loss of my beloved Valerie.”

For a moment all light vanished from Pablo's eyes, A heavy silence lay upon the place for a few seconds. The merchant had been aware of Japhet's and thus Valerie's death, but seeing Pablo speaking about it was much different than just knowing.

“My condolences, Pablo. Valerie was a good guy.” He waited a bit to continue and answer the Judge's earlier question. “The puppeteer and the puppet are facing The Queen as we speak. Then they will find Hugo in his room and soon end everything. They have no use for me anymore.”

Pablo's fur bristled at an instant and he hissed. “He is murdering them?” He asked, his voice quiet but filled with tension.

“Of course. That is how it is supposed to go, there is no stopping this.”

The hiss becomes louder. “I should have known. I did not want to believe my eyes when I saw what the Zones had become, I believed it had to be a mistake, but... this was his plan all along. Why did you not stop him?”

Zacharie made a weak chuckle. “There is nothing I could have done. I am the merchant. That is my sole purpose here.”

The cat's eyes were now filled with murderous intent and anger. It seems he planned to charge at the merchant. Zacharie did not flinch, he did not step back. Instead, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a long sword. A pair of angelic wings unfolded seemingly out of nowhere behind his back and he took a fighting stance. “If you charge, I won't hesitate to end this battle with violence immediately. I am not your enemy, Pablo. Everything is destined to end with the switch. If you wish to, challenge the Batter, speak to the puppeteer. They were deluded the same way you were. But you will only be another small obstacle on the way to success.”

The Judge stopped hissing and sent Zacharie a final glare before turning. “I must stop him.” And with those words he ran away to the nearest way into the nothingness. 

Zacharie sighed. He kept his sword in his hand and his wings visible. He went to Sugar and looked down at her lifeless body. Her skin was white like marshmallows. The merchant sat down and stroked a few strands of hair from her face. His other hand dropped the sword and gripped his frog mask and removed it completely, revealing his human face. 

“Sugar...” He whispered as he began cleaning and wrapping up her wounds. “Only a few minutes, nay, seconds are remaining. Pablo will die and then... then I don't know. It scares me. I was created to speak to the Player directly and thus knew everything that was going to happen and everything that has happened. I guess I got used to it. I have no idea what happens when the switch is turned to OFF and it's terrifying. Will I die? If so, what happens to characters like me when they die? What happened to you? Are you just... gone? Are you spending eternity somewhere or nowhere? I hope to see you again once this is over.”

The merchant leaned against the cold wall once he finished tending to the girl's injuries. “Maybe a New Game will be started and everything will be back to normal. I wonder whether I would remember all of this. Maybe this is a New Game already. Not-knowing is driving me insane.”

The man looked at the copious amounts of sugar that were surrounding him. Memories flashed past his eyes. Not many of them were interesting or even worth thinking of. Zacharie's life was built solely around his role as the merchant and part-time adviser.

There were not many things that he had spent time on or that he enjoyed besides this. But at least he had friends like Sugar and Pablo he could kill a bit of time with and have a lot of fun with, even. He remembered showing her his amusement park and receiving a few witty comments on it. But there was even more to his life. He remembered Hugo, the small child that adored him for some reason he could never quite figure out. Maybe his life was more than that of an item merchant from a small video game, after all.  
The image of the Batter flashed past his mind's eyes. The savior, the purifier, the murderer. No. That last name was not suited for him. He had reasons. Good reasons, even, to be doing what he does. Zacharie was certain of it. 

“I hope he finds salvation.”

It was then that a loud clicking noise echoed through Zacharie's mind and that he choked on his own breath. He leaned forward and knelt. He felt like vomit was shooting up his throat.

Blood dripped out of his nose and onto the floor of gold. The scent of a burnt house or forest surrounded him as he coughed and choked, trying to regain his ability to breathe.

His eyes darted around the room and everything became hot and cold at once. It was time. Pablo had failed, just like he was supposed to and the small merchant was now all alone. But this would not be a concern of his for long.

It felt like an earthquake was shaking through Zone 0. The merchant watched as the golden bricks parted from one another and crumbled into gray dust. He reached out and held onto Sugar's hand tightly as she met the same fate as the bricks. Zacharie wrapped his arms entirely around her and tried to hold onto her tightly as he focused on the entrance of the room. From there a thick darkness was entering the room. Like huge black tentacles wiping over the walls, like a monster crawling into the room and infecting everything with the darkness that killed Zone 0.

All of it, everything Pablo had built from scratch was being broken and torn by the inevitable darkness.

Sugar disappeared completely, becoming black dust and falling apart like ashes. Zacharie was no longer breathing and he watched in sheer terror as his own hands turned into black dust, as well, and crumbled away. 

His mind turned blank.

He was lost in darkness.


End file.
